Wednesday, March 5, 2008

BOSTON -- It's easy to see why iPods would be alluring targets for criminals: The music players are valuable and easy to resell, and people absorbed in their personal soundtracks can be vulnerably oblivious to their surroundings.

But could the temptation for stealing iPods be so strong that they're behind an increase in the crime rate? Researchers at a public policy institute say yes.

They argue that the tantalizing gadgets are perhaps the main reason U.S. violent crime rose in 2005 and 2006 after declining every year since 1991 -- although a close look at the findings suggests the hypothesis has holes.

The Urban Institute, a Washington think tank, first raised the subject of an "iCrime wave" last September, and held a panel discussion Tuesday to explore it further. The researchers don't blame iPod maker Apple Inc. or any other device maker for crime, but they do say consumers should demand technologies that would render stolen gadgets useless.

Apple -- which has explored anti-theft locks in patent filings -- had no comment.

A key point in the Urban Institute's argument is that robberies -- the taking of something by force or the threat of it -- had seen dramatic reductions since the 1990s, but jumped in 2005 and 2006. FBI statistics show the robbery rate went from 137 per 100,000 people in 2004 to 141 per 100,000 in 2005 and 149 in 2006. That helped boost the overall rate of violent crime in those years, even as rape rates fell and aggravated assault was generally flat.

During those years, iPods were going mainstream. In late 2004, Apple had sold about 5 million iPods. By the end of 2005 that had ballooned to 42 million, and in 2006 the number neared 90 million.

One widely accepted theory holds that crime happens when three things come together: A motivated offender encounters a suitable victim and perceives a high chance of getting away with it. And the Urban Institute researchers believe the sudden prevalence of iPods increased all three factors.

Motivation: The iPod's several-hundred-dollar expense and pop-culture buzz made potential thieves, especially young ones, crave the device for themselves or for a lucrative resale market. Suitable victims: People listening through the iconic white earphones are easy to pick out and often unaware of their surroundings. Easy to get away with: IPods lack a mechanism that would pinpoint a thief's location or a subscription that could be canceled by the rightful owner.

Anecdotal evidence bears out a lot of this. Subway officials in New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., reported big increases in iPods being stolen from passengers. News reports cast the iPod as the latest must-steal item for some thugs, following in the footsteps of things like Air Jordan sneakers.

Furthering this idea, the rate for robberies by juveniles increased during this "iCrime Wave" to a much greater degree than the rate for adults, Urban Institute researcher John Roman pointed out. And if economic woes could explain the jump -- a traditional place to look in crime research -- Roman doesn't believe the overall rates of property crimes would have dropped in '05 and '06, as they did.

But is it plausible that so many iPods and similar gadgets were stolen that they drove the rising robbery rate? That robbers would not have just stolen something else if not for shiny music players? This is where the iCrime Wave begins to seem less certain.

For one thing, homicides also increased in this same span, albeit slightly, from 5.5 per 100,000 people to 5.6 in 2005 and 5.7 in 2007. Since crime trends are often murky, whatever caused the bump in homicides might also explain the rise in robberies.

Roman responded that increases in violent crimes like robberies tend to correspond with rises in the homicide rate: Muggings often go badly and end in murder, so with more muggings going on, more homicide victims should be expected. But without good data indicating lots of people killed in iPod thefts, Roman acknowledged it's possible that "we've got our causation backwards."

It's also curious that while iPod thefts on subways and other crowded urban settings provide the best anecdotal evidence, the 2005-06 crime increases were highest in small and midsized cities -- places with less-dense pedestrian traffic, let alone teeming subways.

Also, some stolen iPods might fall into the category of larceny -- a theft without force, such as when something is filched from a backpack -- and larcenies dropped in '05 and '06.

In other words, there might have been an iCrime wave, but it would be hard to be sure. After all, robberies also jumped in pre-iPod 2001.

"There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence of cell phones, iPods, GPS systems that have been targets for theft. No research can tell us those wouldn't have been substituted for other things," said Jack McDevitt, associate dean at Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice.

"I guess I could sort of understand and buy that in a very narrow place, in a short period of time -- a short spike for a few months," he said. "But to suggest that that's driving the crime numbers in any major way, I don't think so."

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Let the Kodak Easyshare C763 7.1MP Digital Camera be your first line of defense. Strength through obscurity! The 7 megapixels are completely insufficient to show a vampire on film, and the auto focus and image stabilization work to keep the shot in frame at all times. This helps the vampire hunter by making it obvious what he or she can’t see, which in turn should make it obvious who the real vampire is. There’s also a USB connection, so moving the video back to your Vampire Hunter’s Laptop (running Vindows VP or Mac OS V) should be as easy as that chick who changed her name to Darkchylde Rosepetal after her parents split up. Which reminds me, the Kodak Easyshare C763 7.1MP Digital Camera has a built in Tripod socket.

3x optical zoom, 15x digital zoom, and a wrist strap designed to keep your Kodak Easyshare C763 7.1MP Digital Camera close as you run from the wolves, bats, gnarled assistants and evil mist. Man, nothing is worse than evil mist. It gets all in your lungs and you get a cold and you’re coughing out vampire for a week. Which the doctors never believe. Stupid World Health Organization coverup. I just wanted some penicillin.

The Kodak Easyshare C763 7.1MP Digital Camera comes with battery, battery charger, and power adapter as well. So don’t live in fear! Order a steak with extra garlic and grab the camera. The next knock on the window… could be your last!

Choose between Silver or Copper at check out

Warranty: 1 Year Kodak

Features:

7 megapixels, Captures a resolution up to 3072×2304 and prints out 11×14 photos

Auto focus for easy to take photos, point and shoot

Image stabilizer, counteracts small vibrations and movement for sharper photos

Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard is facing criticism after footage of her apparently questioning the 9/11 attacks surfaced on the internet. In a interview she reportedly gave a year ago, the star is shown commenting on the events of 11 September 2001.

"I think we're lied to about a number of things," the Paris-born 32-year-old is seen saying in French.Cotillard's best actress Oscar was one of several awards she won for playing singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. She is due to begin filming gangster movie Public Enemies with actor Johnny Depp shortly.

Transcript

In the interview, given to French TV show Paris Premiere, Cotillard appears to suggest the attacks on the World Trade Center were staged to avoid the expense of refurbishing them.

"We see other towers of the same kind being hit by planes, are they burned?" she asks. "There was a tower, I believe it was in Spain, which burned for 24 hours.

"It never collapsed. None of these towers collapsed. And there [in New York], in a few minutes, the whole thing collapsed."The Twin Towers, she claims, were a "money sucker" that would have cost much more to modernise than to destroy.

The actress goes on to cast doubt on the Moon landing of 1969. "Did a man really walk on the moon?" she asks. "I saw plenty of documentaries on it and I really wondered. In any case I don't believe all they tell me."

A transcript of Cotillard's interview has been posted on France's Marianne2 website.

A few years ago, an ex-classmate from RMIT University, Australia dropped by Malaysia for a tropical summer holiday. Every morning as I was going to work, I would drop him off at a tourist spot to amuse himself until evening.

During the early morning journey, we'd always have the radio turned on. On the fourth day, as the weather forecast came on, my friend roared in laughter.

"What's the point of having weather forecast here? It's exactly the same thing every day. I bet they had it pre-recorded years ago and just rewind the same thing for you every morning."

Hmm... it was a little rude for an Australian to laugh at my countryman in my car, but I have to admit, my friend has a point. Unlike in Melbourne, none of us checks the weather forecast to help decide what to wear for work.

In a few hours I will be leaving to climb Mount Huangshan in China so I actually needed to check out the climate.

I googled for Huangshan weather, and found this:-

I then Yahooed for Huangshan weather, and found this at Yahoo! Weather

Nine year old Job McCully is a fighter who refuses to give up.Five years ago he faced down leukemia. Last year his heart stopped twice.Now he's recuperating from a lung transplant he received in December at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

The youngster from a small town near Little Rock, Arkansas, spent an entire year hospitalized waiting for a transplant and then recovering.He technically died in October when his heart stopped for eight minutes.His lungs were on the verge of failing when the donor organ became available."When I got the call the donor organ was a match, I was speechless," explained his mother Tina McCully.She cried and prayed the operation would actually take place.

Job left Children's Hospital on February 21 to live with his mother and grandmother at an apartment provided by the Ronald McDonald House charity.The fourth grader attends class and physical therapy sessions each day at the hospital.

"Right now I can't stand and I get out of breath easy," said Job.When asked how he would describe this lengthy hospital experience, he paused thoughtfully; then said, "Frustrating."The child went on to explain he'd been fighting the disease for five years.Treatment for his leukemia caused the lung damage and prompted the need for a transplant.Despite the successful lung transplant, Job is not ready to declare victory.The drugs he's taken have caused cataracts and diabetes.

Nevertheless his mother sees a positive future."I have all the hopes in the world.I really believe he'll have a full life," she said.West County Assembly of God Church is planning a benefit for the family March 7 and 8."It just means so much that there are so many loving people in St. Louis that's took care of us when we didn't have anybody here and I just appreciate it," McCully said.

India Won the 1st Final Against Australia, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney.After failing throughout the series, Sachin Tendulkar delivered when it mattered the most.

Sachin Tendulkar’s bat did all the talking as the master batsman came up with a blistering century at the SCG on Sunday. Chasing 240, along with Rohit Sharma, Tendulkar came up with an incredible knock to take India one up in the series

India thoroughly deserved their win through Tendulkar’s excellent century, his 42nd ODI ton, and eighth against Australia, but the first against them in their country.

Thousands of people have watched the christening in Louisiana of a US warship built partly from steel salvaged from the World Trade Center.The twin towers in New York were destroyed in the hijacked planes attack of 11 September 2001.

Friends and families of 9/11 victims were among those at the ceremony for the new amphibious assault ship, the USS New York, in the base of Avondale.The bow contains 7.5 tonnes of steel taken from Ground Zero.It also bore a shield with two bars to symbolise the towers and a banner with the slogan Never Forget.

Hurricane Katrina

The wife of Deputy Defence Secretary Gordon England broke the champagne with the traditional salute of "May God bless this ship and all who sail on her".Mr England said the name of the ship would be a source of strength and inspiration to the crew.

In the US Navy, state names are normally reserved for submarines, but former New York Governor George Pataki had asked for the ship to carry the name.During construction the ship also had to survive the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The USS New York will be commissioned into service next year.Lee Ielpi, president of the September 11th Families' Association, told Associated Press: "We're sending a message that we're standing strong. This ship, as it cuts through the water, is going to send a ripple. That ripple will say, 'We cherish our freedom'."

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner hopes to land Lindsay Lohan for a nude photo shoot as Marilyn Monroe for the magazine. Hefner was reportedly impressed by Lohan's recent Monroe recreation spread in New York Magazine and is interested in doing a similar photo shoot for Playboy. Hefner is also rumored to be interested in asking the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, to pose naked as well.

Actress Lindsay Lohan was the prima donna of buzz in February for posing semi-nude in a NewYork Magazine ,recreation of a Marilyn Monroe's last professional photo shoot. Now it seems Playboy's Hugh Hefner wants Lohan to recreate another famous Monroe spread in the pages of his magazine. According to a report by Splash News , Hefner hopes to convince Lohan to recreate Monroe's naked swimming scene from Something's Got to Give.

Considering Lohan's New York Magazine portrayal sparked an Internet frenzy over the photos, even crashing the magazine's web site, it is unsurprising that Hefner might wish to capitalize on the publicity of another nude Lohan shoot.

Lohan is not the only starlet to currently hold Hefner's interest. According to reports by several gossip sites, including Star Magazine,Playboy would also like to acquire the Olsen twins for a nude photo shoot. Hefner reportedly asked the twins to pose for the magazine when they turned 18, but was refused. Now Hefner is rumored to be trying to seal the deal with the twins again to celebrate their 22nd birthday. An unnamed 'insider' told Star that Hefner believes the twins are "every young man's fantasy."

Although speculation is high on Hollywood gossip sites that Lohan might actually go for the idea of another nude spread, it is considered likely the Olsen twins would only hand Hefner another rejection.

Food Network celebrity chef Robert Irvine is headed for the chopping black after lying on his resume when hired for the network's Dinner: Impossible series. Irvine was fired for embellishing his resume by saying he graduated from the University of Leeds and had cooked for Princess Diana, among other claims. Questions over the chef's true qualifications arose after an investigation launched by the St.Petersburg Times.

In researching Irvine's history for a story about his failed restaurant launches in St. Petersburg, the Times uncovered multiple instances where fact did not quite match the fabulous image of a worldly, first-class British chef. One of the most telling revelations was that the University of Leeds had no record of Irvine ever attending the university or having any connection to it, according to a press officer at Leeds.

Another tale that didn't quite match up was Irvine's story of helping to work on the wedding cake for the famous wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The story, which Irvine has reportedly told several press sources and includes in his biography Mission: Cook! may not be quite true either. When confronted by the Times, he backed off his original tale that we worked on the "elaborate side panels" of the cake and said he helped by "picking fruit and things like that."

One lie about his past Irvine has confessed to is his claim of being a "knight." The Times reports they inquired about this claim with the press officer at Buckingham Palace, which revealed Irvine had never been knighted. Irvine admitted he was not, in fact, a knight of any variety, claiming it was something he said "keep up with the Joneses. I was sitting in a bar one night and that came out. It was stupid."

On Friday, the Food Network issued a statement regarding the information in the Times story. "We looked into the situation and found that, as Robert as already admitted, there were some embellishments and inaccuracies in his resume," Food Network President Brooke JohnsonDinner Impossible have been removed. said in the statement. "The few and minor incidents of the inclusion of these embellishments in

While the statement said the network will continue to show reruns of previous shows and the new series of the show currently in production, the network will not renew Irvine's contract for future seasons.

In addition to losing his future career with the Food Network, Irvine is facing a plethora of legal and financial problems revolving around the two restaurants he had planned to open in St. Petersburg. The restaurants still remain under construction and various parties say Irvine owes them tens of thousands of dollars for their work on the uncompleted projects.

Brooke Hogan’s friend, Christiane Plante, has disclosed publicly that she slept with Brooke’s dad, Hulk Hogan. Plante kissed and told to The National Enquirer about her conquests with the wrestling great.

She says that the marriage was already over and that she was basically just helping cheer the Hulk up during the tough time.

“My relationship with Terry began at a time when Terry and Linda privately knew their marriage was ending. She had left him already, although no official papers had been filed. Terry is a good man, good father and a good friend, and he and I grew close at a time when he was going through a very difficult period. It seemed right then, but I know it was wrong. Having felt the guilt and pain build up, I gave a note to Brooke apologizing for my actions. I will never be able to fully forgive myself for this. I have lost an amazing friend.”

Hulk Hogan’s real name is Terry Bollea. His wife, Linda, filed for divorce in November.

Lets not make any mistakes. Hulk Hogan is the greatest wrestler of all-time. I believe fame and success with the reality show was not good for anyone involved from mom and dad down to Brooke and Nick.

It has been a very tough twelve months for the Hogans. Christiane how was Hulkamania running all over you?

A joint effort between the FBI and St. Louis City Police helped round up a dangerous suspected child predator.

His story was scheduled to run on FOX 2's St. Louis' Most Wanted Saturday, but after searching for him for a couple of weeks city police were able to arrest him without incident.

"This individual in addition to sexual molestation charges that have been brought by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, he's also wanted for child pornography," says FBI Supervisory Special Agent Zachary T. Lowe, Jr.

The exact charges against 28-year-old Donnell McCloud include production of child pornography, four counts of statutory rape, four counts of statutory sodomy and one count of child molestation and assault.

"McCloud is a very dangerous predator in our community," says Lowe. He was once a predator on the prowl, now behind bars.McCloud was arrested Thursday night.

The FBI says St. Louis City Police kind of stumbled across the case while serving a search warrant at McCloud's home in mid February on an unrelated matter.

But when they got there McCloud had a child living with him and there was evidence of sexual abuse."We believe McCloud met one of his victims through the internet and lured them to the St. Louis area."

The feds say the two met in an internet chat room, and had been communicating for over a month. The feds and city police now hope parents in our area will sleep a little better knowing one less child predator is on the streets.

McCloud is being held at the justice center on a $300,000 secured bond.

Former TV news anchor Suzanne Pagella was found hanged by her motherin her Detroit home last weekend in an apparent suicide. Pagella had been on a downward spiral for several months.

As a married Suzanne Wangler, she appeared to have it all: a career as a popular television news anchor, a husband who was a former college quarterback, four children.

But at some point, Wangler’s life went into free fall, with a divorce, debt and several arrests, including one last week on an embezzlement charge. It ended with a crash last weekend when Wangler’s mother found her hanging from a beam in the basement of her Royal Oak home, just north of Detroit.

She was known as Suzzane Page as a news anchor around the Detroit area.

With so many fielders pulling off impossible catches in the slips, the Academy thought it was about time to find out exactly how they do it.

Is it instinct, or does practice make perfect?

We spoke to Mark Simpson, a top physiologist at the English Institute of Sport, to shed some more light on the subject.Taking a catch can be divided up into three parts - anticipation, reaction and movement.

Anticipation

Fielders always expect the ball to come to them, so they're constantly aware of what's going on around them. Their level of awareness will increase when the bowler starts his run-up.

Their level of anticipation will rise even further depending on the how the bowler is holding the ball, the shape of his body or where the previous delivery went.All of these factors give the fielder important information on where they expect the ball to go.The fielder will have made all these decisions before the ball has left the bowler's hand.

Previous experience of fielding in that particular position also plays a major part in their decision-making. And when the ball hits the bat, that's when their reaction time kicks in.

Reaction

The first part of reaction is identifying that the ball is actually coming their way. The second part is to the make the right decision on what to do. The third part is to initiate the action. The reaction time can be seen as the start of the catching movement.

Reaction is automatic - it's not a conscious process, but it can be speeded up through practising specific drills.Fielders can practice improving that reaction by receiving close fast catches. This will help them prepare for the catches out in the field.

Movement

The physical side is actually getting to the ball. If you're not quick enough, you're not going to catch the ball, no matter how fast your mental reaction is.Specific explosive weight training and speed training can help improve jumping and moving actions, meaning the fielder can get to the ball quicker.

The other skill involved is pinpointing the ball when it comes off the bat.The player has to have his eyes on the ball, which requires a high level of visual accuracy to actually concentrate your vision on a small object moving very, very quickly.

The fielder has to know where their body, in particular his hands, are in space and time and to coincide their hands with the actual flight of the ball.The ability to coincide his hands in the right place at the right time to meet the ball in it's flight path is called "coincidence timing".

And it's all down to hundredths of milliseconds - it's that fast.All of this evolves over time. You can see this in how animals catch their pray, how it develops into instinct.

For example, lizards survive by catching flies flying in the air with their tongues.

After having wowed audiences in the Hindi belt, Ashutosh Gowariker’s magnum opus Jodhaa Akbar, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, is now to be released in Tamil. The music for the film is by maestro A.R. Rahman, who has come out with some grand numbers. The Tamil lyrics have been written by Na. Muthukumar. The audio, released recently, has been doing well, say sources. The film has turned out to be a super-hit, especially in the overseas market where it is doing terrific business aided by favourable reviews from the foreign press. The domestic revenue too has been above average considering that the film has not been released in Rajasthan and has been banned in Madhya Pradesh and certain other areas. The Hindi version, released two weeks back, has so far collected 65 lakhs from Chennai alone. This is indeed quite a feat, considering the film’s running time of 3 hours and 30 minutes. However, UTV is planning to release a more tightly-edited version. The dubbed version will release across Tamil Nadu on March 6.

A 19-year-old in Melbourne, Ashleigh Morris is allergic to water. That’s right, she can’t go swimming, take a long bath, or even get overly sweaty without breaking out in a painful rash ever since she was 14. How awful!

She suffers from an extremely rare skin disorder called Aquagenic Urticaria - so unusual that only a handful of cases are documented worldwide.

When Ashleigh gets wet her body explodes in sore, itchy red lumps that take about two hours to ease.

She has to wash. But showering is a painful experience and she can only do it for a minute at a time.

These brief showers are the only contact Ashleigh has with water. The one thing she doesn’t miss is the washing up.

“People find it hard to believe, they say things like ‘Oh my god, how do you wash. “That makes me feel dirty, but I consider myself a very clean person,” she said.

Most of us take showering for granted but for Ashleigh it’s a painful endurance that often reduces her to tears.

Melissa Moss, an English teacher at Barat Academy in Dardenne Prairie — a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri — has been charged with taking topless photos of herself and emailing them to a 15-year-old boy in her class. The boys parents found the naughty pics and reported the teacher to the school and the police. And we’re sure the boy didn’t share the photos with *any* of his friends….

We talked with the Robert and Kelly Pfeiffer- their son was in Moss’ class. They say they thought she was a great teacher and they’re stunned by the charges.

“It is very disturbing and you know it’s kind of a sign of the times the way we live with a lot of internet access and Face book and things like that. As a parent you have to be on constant vigil to make sure, you have to know what your kids are getting into,” said Robert Pfeiffer.

His wife, Kelly, added, “I was kind of shocked because I worked with her a lot as far as one on one talking to her you know about his grades and keeping up with them and I thought she was a really nice teacher. So when this came about, it really shocked me.”

Barat Academy is a private, independent catholic high school that opened last September.